Keep up to date with my newsletter

Green Hook Games is a website focused on art in board games. Niklas Høøk, has interviewed some amazing artists including Naiide and Vincent Dutrait. Two heros of mine. So I am very honoured to have been asked. It is a really good chat with a lot of pictures of my process asn studio also.

I have added two new projects to my portfolio Stop Thief! and Battle Line. These are very different projects stylistically but both happen to be games projects. If you are looking for a games artist you may like to go over to my other site which is focused entirely on art for games. Roland's Revenge Games. Some of the other projects on the site have also been refreshed. Check back soon as there is more on the way.

I am preparing to take my own game Ruthless to Essen this year. Essen is the worlds biggest games fair. So it will be a pretty exciting adventure. Last week I took the game to a local convention. The game and the artwork got a lot of love there. I spent the previous week redoing a lot of the drawings and adding some finishing touches.

This set of frames was recently completed for a short animation project for the Dutch Goverment via KonaCoast. It was a fun project with an opportunity to try out a style that suits this short animation assignments. Delivering the story with style.

Battle Line is a fun and simple card game. Sadly the current version in production is very outdated. The artwork to be dull and uninspiring. Visually it is not a game that can compete shoulder to shoulder on the shelves with todays high quality productions. The current version is also fails to accommodate colour blind users, which are a surprisingly large demographic.

In my redesign I have focused on tackling all of these issues. To create a product that is appealling, thematic and improves playability.

Medieval Re-theme

I wanted to give the game a more appealling flavour so I opted for a medieval era as it is very familiar to everyone. Knights and the age of chivalry have engaged our imaginations for generations. Every choice made in the design was a balance of function and theme. I like the idea that this game could be bought in the era or theme of your choosing ... samurai anyone?

Cards Suits - Colour, Pattern & Shape

Making the suits and values clearly distinct is the main function of the card art. This is easily achieved with colour but for the colour blind we also need another method. Inspired by the medieval theme I have added two additional distinctions between themes. The pattern on the banners and the shape of each banner is different for each suit. It also provides a thematic hook and a strong visual element to each card.

Colours for Troops

The colour themes of each suit are also echoed in the character illustrations to add further distinction and appeal. It would have been reasonable to use generically coloured illustrations on all cards. However the amount of extra time required to add this extra detail rewards the cost. The extra attention to detail is becoming the norm in modern board gaming. Industry leaders like Fantasy Flight and iello have raised the bar.

Clear Troop Silhouettes

Card identification is further improved by using troop poses with clear silhouettes. Thus we can identify each troop at a glance. The weight of the armour also increases a with the value of each card in the sequence.

Tactics Cards - Theme and function

The other element of the game is these 'Tactics' cards There are only ten of them but they change the game rules and are very distinct from the Troop cards. Here my aim was to make the cards function clear by using text supported by a simple illustration. As you can see below some additional information is adde using banner graphics where needed. These cards offered a great opportunity to drive home the theme. Using a classic medieval trope, book illumination, really lets these cards shine.

There are two personal projects and one big client project underway at the moment. So every hour is filled with drawing designing and problem solving. It is all good fun! You can follow me on Instagram to get more regular updates on these. https://www.instagram.com/rolandtheillustrator/